Tying machine



H. HARVEY TYING MACHINE Get. 25, 1938.

14 Sheets-Sheet l Filed' July 12, 1957.

f fwl- HH MUNI. H HAMWHMWIM 1m Ur, i -y a 5 KME d. 4/ a, u inw WM m nv n L2. 5 n

Oct. 25, 1938. H. HARVEY 2,134,187

TYING MACHINE Filed July 12, 1937 14 Sheets-Shea?l 2 gmc/who@ H. HARVEY TYING MACHINE Oct. 25, 1938.

Filed July l2, 1937 14 Sheets-Sheet 5 fferberz Har ve] Oct. 25, 193s. H, HARVEY 2,134,187

TYING MACHINE Filed July 12, 1937 14 sheets-sheet 4 Oct. 25, H. HARVEY TYING MACHINE Filed July l2, 1937 14 Sheets-Sheet 6 Herbert Harvey @1A/4g 6MM/47AM Ont. 25, 1938. H. HARVEY 2,34187 TYING MACHINE I l Filed July l2, 193'? 14 Sheets-Sheet 7 faq, /124 z5 Q9 +15 42/ 117 la Oct. 25, 193s. H HARVEY 2,134,187

TYING MACHINE l Attorneys Oct. 25, l938. H. HARVEY 2,134,187

TYING MACHINE Filed July 12, 1957 14 shams-sheet 1o Attorneys H. HARVEY TYING MACHINE Oct. 25, 1938.

14 Shets-Sheet l1 Filed July l2, 193'? Hererz Ham/ey AHor'neys Oct. 25, 1938.

H. HARVEY TYING MACHINE Filed July l2, 1937 14 Sheets-Sheet 13- Herb @rf Harvey Strom/1014A,

H. l-'lARvEY' TYING MAGHI NE Oct. 25, 1938.

14 Sheets-Sheet 14 Filed July 12, 1937 MEN ...ugs Qwmkmm,

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.Swim hw |||Y Sku k IN Qu@ C Patented Oct. 25, 1938 PATENT OFFICE Los Angeles, to The Herbert Harvey;

mesne assignments,

Calif., assigner, by Gerrard Company,

Incorporated, Chicago, lll., a corporation of Delaware Application July 12, 1937, Serial No. 153,118

y 14 Claims.

This invention relates to a machine for wire binding boxes, cartons or bundles formed of a plurality of objects and especially to certain new and improved mechanical features incorporated in such machine.

It is one of the principal objects oi this invention to provide an improved form of threading device which is'operative for taking hold oi the supply portion of the tie wire at the completion of the tying operation when the supply wire is severed from the formed tie and carrying the cut end of the supply wire forwardly and presenting it to a iirst gripping means.

A further object is to provide appropriate operating means for actuating the threading device in timed relation with the other operating elements and devices of the machine.

A further object is to arrange the threading device to complete its threading operation just prior to the stopping of the machine, whereby the machine Will be automatically rendered ready for the next tying operation. i

A further object is to providemeans for positively actuating the several operative elements oi the machine without resorting to spring means for actuating said elements through a portion of the operating cycle.

A further object is to provide a tying machine `which will be positive, smooth and rapid in its operation and attention from the operator, and which machine will be easily and quickly manipulated.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the nature of the saine is more fully understood from the following description and accompanying drawings wherein is set forth what is now considered to be a preferred embodiment. It should be understood, however, that this particular` embodiment of the invention is chosen principally for the purpose of exemplication and that variations therefrom in details of construction or arrangement of parts may accordingly be effected and yet remain withr in the spirit and scope of the invention as the same is set forth in the appended claims.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 illustrates a front elevation of the machine and showing the machine just after a tie has been completed and the threading device` carrying the cut end of the supply wire to the first gripper.

Figure 2 is a partial elevational view similar to that of Figure 1, with the exception that the parts are shown in the position they would ocwhich will require a minimum of section and in the position (Cl. 14o-w93) cupy at the instance the machine is placed in operation.

Figure 3 illustrates a iragmentalplan view of Figure 1, with the bundle supporting surface or cover of the machine removed to show the operating elements of the machine.

Figure 4 illustrates a fragmental sectional view taken substantially in the plane of line 4-4 ci Figure 3.

Figure 5 illustrates a fragmental sectional view taken substantially in the plane oi' line 5-5 of Figure 3.

Figure 6 is substantially the same asJ that oi Figure 5 but illustrates the parts in a diierent operative position.

Figure 7 is a fragmental sectional view taken substantially in the plane of line 1--1 of Figure 6.

Figure 8 illustrates a fragmental plan View partially in section of the wire tensioning, tying, severing and tensioning locking means of the invention.

Figure 9 illustrates a fragmental sectional view taken substantially in the plane of line 8 9 oi Figure 8.

Figure 10 illustrates a fragmentai sectional view .taken substantially in the plane of line lil-l0 oi Figure 3.

Figure 11 illustrates a sectional view taken substantially in the plane of line I i-I i of Figure 10.

Figure 12 is a fragmentalelevational view taken substantially in the plane of line |2-i2 of Figure 10.

Figure 13 illustrates in perspective one of the wire spreading, severing and tie ejecting members.

Figure 14 illustrates a fragmental'sectional view taken substantially in the plane of line ll--ll of Figure 3.

Figure 15 is a iragmental sectional view taken substantially in the plane of line l5|5 of Figure 14.

Figure 16 illustrates a fragmental view of the wire twisting mechanism illustrated in section, and its segmental supporting bearing partially in section, and a full view of the wire spreading and severing means, and shows the twister in the operation of forming a tie, the length of which limited by the wire spreading means. I

Figure 1'1 illustrates la view snilalr to that oi' Figure 16 but diiering therefrom in showing the wire spreading and severing means partially in occupied when severing the held end and supply portions of the tie wire from the tie.

Figure 18 illustrates a view similar to Figures tie is 1s and 1v, illustrating the manner in which the wire spreading and severing means are made use o! for electing the completed tie from the twister pinion.

Figure 19 illustrates a sectional view taken substantially inthe plane oi' line I I-l! of Figure 3 the tie wire presented thereto and the clutch control mechanism actuated to release the clutch for operating the machine through a complete tying cycle.

' 19 to illustrate the Figure 21 .illustrates a fragmental seccional `view taken substantially in the plane of line` Zi-Zlot Figure 20. e

Figure 22 illustrates a i'ragmental view taken substantially in the plane of line 22-22 oi' Figure clutch control mechanism. Figure 22 -A is the machine cannot be actuated to start the ma-` chine upon an operating cycle until after the gripper has been released. Figure 22-B illustrates a view similar to that carriage at one end of its travel.

Figure 27 is a view similar to that of Figure 26 but showing the carriage at the opposite end ot its travel.

appear at the end of the tensioning operation.

Figure 29 illustrates a sectional view taken substantially in the plane of line 29-29 of Figure 3. Figure 30 illustrates a sectional view similar to that of Figure 29 'therein in the following manner.

from a reel, or some' other source, and the free wire 45 (Fig. 3) will be preand securely gripped As may be Observed in this ligure, the gripper 48 includes a y the spring means on the wire to the right, as will tend to tighten the hold the wire.

It will be placed |64 whereby a pull viewed in Figure 3, of the gripper upon With the machine now ready for use, the Operatorwill place an article such as a carton tying position second gripper 52, which substantially the same construction as that oi' the rst gripper.

wire receiving slo't 50 of the twister pinion 6l is directed downwardly in order that the wire may be directly wrapped into the slot during the placing of the wire about the object, and it may be also observed in these figures that thetwister pinion is positioned outwardly from the machine, thus greatly facilitating the placing of the tie wire about the object and within the twister slot. To assist in guiding the tie wire into the twister slot during the wire placing operation, the first gripper anvil 41 is provided with a -downwardly and inwardly extending guide nger 54 (Fig. 10) 'and the outer surface of the' automatic wire threading device will also act to assist the wire in entering the twister pinion slot. In this particular, note Figures 2 and 23.

As previously stated, the second gripper is maintained in its open position until the operator lifts the latch plate' 53 during the completion of the wire placing operation. The latch plate 53 is pivotally mounted on the upper end of the space crank arms 55 (Figs. 3, 19 and 20). The forward edge of the latch plate 53 is provided with a cam surface 56 which engages an upwardly extending post 51 carried by the gripping jaw 58, to maintain the gripper in its open position, which position is illustrated in Figure 3. A spring means 59 yieldingly urges the gripping jaw 58 to rotate in a clockwise direction but is prevented from rotating the gripper by means of the engagement of the latch plate with the gripper post 51. When the operator lifts the latch plate 53 during the placing of the tie wire between the gripper jaw 58 and the second gripper anvil 6U, the cam surface 56 of the plate rises clear of post 51, thus permitting the spring to rotate the gripper jaw into gripping relation with the placed tie wire. The machine is now ready to be placed into operation and, for convenience, plate 53 is also used for placing the driving clutch in operation.

Figures 19 through 22-B illustrate the preferred form of clutch and its control mechanism. It is to be understood that any form of clutch which will drive the machine through one cycle of operation and which will thereupon automatically release, may be used in place of the particular form of clutch illustrated herein. In other words, the invention is not directed to the specific form of clutch nor the means of control thereof.

The clutch control includes a train of mechanism including a link 6| pivotally connected at one end to an upturned flange of the second gripper latch plate 53 and at its opposite end to a clevis block 62 which block is pivotally mounted to one end of clutch lever 63. The opposite end of the lever 63 is connected to the frame by means of spring 64, normally acting to urge the lever to rotate in a clockwise direction as viewed in Figure 22. The lever is securely fastened onto the forward end of the clutch control shaft 64, which shaft is journaled in the. frame of the tying machine and carries adjacent to inner end an upwardly directed clutch control blade 65 (Figs. 19, 20 and 21). As illustrated in Figure 19, the second gripper latch plate is in its gripper engaging position and the control blade 65 is positioned to render the clutch inactive, whereas in Figures and 21 the latch plate 53 has been lifted thereby causing' the clutch control shaft to rotate in a counterclockwise direction, as viewed in Figure 21, sufiiciento ly to withdraw the control blade 65 from the clutch pawl 66. As may be observed in Figures 19, 20 and 21, the clutchl pawl 66 is slidably mounted in the driven member 61 of the clutch and is yieldingly urged to move outwardly by spring means 68. As previously pointed out, the blade 65 maintains the pawl in its retracted position but as soon as the blade isA removed from its supporting relation with the pawl, the pawl will move outwardly due to the influence of its spring until it engages one of the notches 69 of the clutch driving member 16'. thus 'rendering the clutch active to drive the machine through a complete cycle of operation, and during this cycle of operation the blade will be 'returned to its normal position, whereupon at the completion of the cycle the pawl will engage V-the inclined surface of blade 65, causing the pawl to be withdrawn from engagement with one of the notches of the driving member of the clutch, thus bringing' about the disengagement of the clutch. The blade 65 is provided with a. stop shoulder against which the clutch pawl engages to lock the driven member of the clutch `against rotation beyond this point.

The above description illustrates the manner in which the clutch is released into driving engagement and is automatically disengaged after driving the machine through one complete tying cycle. For convenience of description, the clutch will be referred to generally by reference to the numeral 1I.

Clutch 1I may be driven by any suitable driving mechanism. As herein illustrated the clutch is driven by means of an electric motor 12 .(Fig. 1) connected to a standard form of speed reduction mechanism 13 (Figure 21), which speed reduction mechanism is directly connected to the driving member 10 of the clutch.

It may be observed in Figure 21 that the clutch driving member 10 is joumaled upon the outer end of the main drive shaft 14 of the machine, while the driven member 61 of the clutch is directly keyed to the shaft by suitable key means 15. All of the operating elements of the machine are directly driven from the main drive shaft 14 in cooperation with the cam shaft 16.

In some instances it may be preferable to mount all the operating cams of the machine directly upon the main shaft 14, however, I prefer, as herein described, to use the main shaft for carrying one set of operating cams and a cam shaft 16 for carrying a cooperating set of operating cams whereby each of the operating.

elements of the machine will lbe positively driven throughout its operating cycle by cams mounted upon the two shafts.

With the placing of clutch 1I in operation two elements start upon their operating cycles. These are the tensioning means and the outside wire clamping means, as will be noted by referring to the cam chart illustrated in Figure 32. The tensioning means includes a pair of spaced arms 11 and 18 (Figs. 3, 8 and 28) which are pivotally connected at their rear ends to the frame of the machine and at its forward end the arm 11 carries the first gripping means 46, while the second arm 18 carries at its forward end the second gripping means 52, whereby, as the two arms are spread apart, the tie wire placed above the article will be drawn taut or tensioned and for this purpose a pair of toggle links 19 and 80 interconnect the two arms and, in turn, the arm 19 is connected tosthe tensioning yoke 8l, which yoke is slidably mounted upon the tensioning shaft 82. The shaft 82 is slidably mounted in the first and second turn, carry the free end of the tie wire and theA the machine frame and is reciprocated forwardly and rearwardly by means of a bell crank lever 83. One arm of the bell crank lever is pivotally connected to the inner nd of shaft 82 while the other arm of the bell crank lever carries a cam roller 84 (Fig.- 18) arranged to play between the tensioning cam 8l and the return cam 86. The tensioning cam 8i is mounted upon the main drive shaft 18, while the return cam is mounted upon the cam shaft 18. The bell crank lever `is jcurnaled upon a suitable cross shaft 81. In Figure 10 the parts are shown in the positions they wouldV occupy when the tensioning means has been actuated to apply tension to the placed tie wire, and it is for this reason that the cam roller 88 is in engagement with the outer concentric cam surface of the tensioning cam, while at the same time engaging the inner concentric surface of the return cam 86.v Upon the coinpletion of the tensioning operation the tensioning cam 85 will turn to present the inner or lower cam surface to the cam roller` 88, while the extending or outer cam surface of the` return cam 86 will engage the cam` roller 8l and return the bell crank lever to its normal rest position.

As previously stated, theyoke member 8| is slidaby mounted upon shaft 82 and, as may be observedV in Figure 10, a tensioning spring 88 surrounds the shaft and acts between yoke 8| and an adjustable stop sleeve 88, which sleeve is screw threaded upon shaft 82 in the manner shown in Figure 10. 'I'he adjusting screw sleeve extends beyond the rear end of the tying machine and is provided with a crank handle 88 by means of which the tension of the spring may be increased or decreased to correspondingly increase or decrease the amount of tension placed on the tie wire during the tensioning operation.

With the parts as shown in Figure 10, the shaft 82 is moved forwardly carrying with it the adjusting sleeve 88. The forward motion of the sleeve is transmitted to the tension spring 88 and through this spring to the yoke 8| which, in turn, transmits the tensioning force to the toggle links 18 and 88. The application of the -tensioning force to the toggle links causes the spaced arms 11 and 18 to swing about their pivots and as the free or forward ends of these levers carry grippers, which grippers, in

supply portion thereof respectively, the tie wire which encircles the article will be tightly drawn about the article until the tension in the wire corresponds to the yielding force of the tension sp1-lng, whereupon further action of the tensioning device will apply but slightly additional tensioning force to the placed tie wire, the spring absorbing the additional motion of the driving mechanism for the tying means. As previously stated, the tensioning force applied to the wire may be increased or decreased by means of adjusting sleeve 88 which can be screwed further onto shaft 82 to increase the tension transmitted through the spring 88 or retracted to lessen tension applied through spring 88. It will be understood that the tension means having once been set to applying a desired degree of tension to the tie wire, that many articles may be bound with the tension so adjusted and that the tensioning means need only be readjusted when it is desired to either increase or decrease the amount of tension given toA the wire for other articles to be bound.

The next element to be brought into action is the outside clamping means. The outside clamping means are illustrated in Figures l, 2, 3, 4, 8, 6 and 'l and have for their purpose to lift the portions oi' the tie wire indicated at 8| and 82 into substantial engagement with the underside of the article being tied, whereby the portions 8| and 82 of the tie wire are lifted and thereby angled suiilciently with relation to the free end of the tie wire 83 pinion and the supply portion of the tie wire 88 on the other side of the twister pinion (Fig. 2) to ensure the entrance of the wire spreading means between the portions of tie wire.

The function of these outside clamping means becomes especially important when binding or tying articles-which have considerable width, which would cause the wire portions 8| and 82 to take such a dat angle with relation to their related' wire portions 88 and 84 as to render the admission of the separator indefinite, that is, in some cases the separators would not enter between the wires in the manner previously described.

For narrow boxes the wire portions 8| and 82 will take a sufficiently steep angle to invariably ensure entry of the wire separators between A these portions of the tie wire.

'I'he outside clamping means are shown in detail in Figures 4, 5, 6 and 7, and include a left hand clamping finger 85 and a right hand clamping finger 86. Each of the clamping fingers is provided with an elongated slot 81 through which a supporting pin 88 extends. The supporting pin is carried by the frame of the machine. 'I'he mechanism for advancing and retracting the right and left hand clamping ngers includes a driving cam 88 keyed to the main shaft 1I, and a return cam |88 keyed to the cam shaft 16.' Between these cams a cam roller |8| is maintained by means of a pair oi' crank arms |82 keyed to the cross shaft 81. Keyed to the cross shaft 81, in alignment with each of the clamping ngers, is a crank arm |83, the upper end of which is connected to a depending boss |88 formed on each of the clamping fingers by means of the connecting link |85. When the clutch 1| is placed in operation, causing rotation of the main shaft 18 and the cam shaft 16, the enlarged portion of the clamping finger advancing cam 88 will engage the roller 8| swinging the crank arms |82 and |83 in a counter-clockwise direction as viewed in Figures 5 and 6. This motion will be transinitted to the respective clamping fingers by v means of the connecting link |85, causing the clamping fingers to advance from their retracted positions, as illustrated in Figures 4 and 5, to their active positions, as illustrated inl dotted lines'in Figure 4 and in full lines in Figure 6. During the outward movement of the fingers the rear end surface of each fingerV may cam along the under side of the cover plate of the machine and when moved to their fully extended position, the rear end of each of the fingers cams down in front of the guide pin |86. The cam ngers so positioned are illustrated in broken lines in Figure 4 and full lines in Figure 6. I'he down- -ward swing of the rear end of each of the clamping fingers is caused by the end of the slot 81 formed in each of the fingers engaging the support pin 88 whereupon each of the clamping fingers will pivot about its supporting pin as a center until the forward ends of these clamping fingers engage their respective portions of the tie wire and thereby lift these portions of the tie wire into engagement with the under surface of the article.

on one side ot' the twister of the tie wire. When the slot 91 of each of the iingers engages its supporting pin 98, the portion |01 will ride beyond the guide pin |08, permitting each of the clamping fingers to pivot about its supporting pinv 98, thereby elevating its respective portion of the tie wire into engagement with the under surface of the article to be tied. During the return motion of each of the clamping fingers, under the influence of its return cam |00, the rear portion will swing upwardly, pivoting about the supporting pin 98 until the surface |01 may cam along the top surface of the guide pin |06, until these clamping fingers are nnally re turned to their fully retracted positions, as illustrated' in full llines in Figures 4 and 5. Figure 7 illustrates the manner in which the supporting pin 98 is mounted upon the frame of the machine.

The next element to be brought into operation is the shuttle of the threading device, however, the structure and operation ofthe threading device will be described later.

The next element to be brought into action is the projecting of the left and right hand wire spreaders |08 and |09 between the held ends of the placed tie wire. The wire spreading, severing and ejecting means are illustrated most clearly in Figures 3, 13, through 18, and include rectangular members |08 and |09 of the general form illustrated in perspective in Figure 13, one of which is placed at each side of the twister pinion as may be observed most clearly in Figures 16, 17 and 18. The wire spreaders in their rest position are indicated in Figure 14, and are projected rst into wire spreading position as illustrated in Figure 16, and at substantially the completion of the tying operation are retracted sumciently to cut the free end 93 and the supply portion 94 from the tie, as illustrated in Figure 17,

and upon completion of the tying operation are again advanced, as illustrated in Figure 18, to eject the completed tie from the twister pinion.

The operating means for the wire spreaders includes the advancing cam H0, keyed to the main shaft 14,`and the retracting cam III, keyed to the cam shaft 16. Between these two cams there is maintained a cam roller ||2 which is carried between the lower arms of a pair of bell crank levers ||3 journaled upon the cross shaft 81. Pivotally connected between the upper arms of the bellcrank levers |I3 is an actuated rod I I4 which extends rearwardly of the machine and is provided at its extreme rear end with a threaded portion ||5 upon which is slidably mounted ,the oiset boss IIB formed at the rear end of the slide bar ||1. The boss IIB is securely clamped to rod ||4 by means of the adjusting nuts H8, whereby movement of the rod ||4 is transmitted directly to the slide bar ||1 and by means of the nuts ||8 the relative position of the bar l|1 may be adjusted with relation to the rod |4. The slide bar ||1 is slidably mounted in the frame of the machine and is provided at its forward end with rectangular keys ||9 and |20 (Fig. 18), which keys closely fit in corresponding rectangular openings |2| and |22 formed in the spreaders |08 and |09 (Fig. 18).

By this arrangement of connecting the spreaders |08 and |09 to the slide bar ||1l the spreaders may be readily assembled in the machine and connected to the slide bar or withdrawn therefrom without requiring the dismantling of the slide bar from the machine, and through the adjustable connection between the slide bar ||1 and rod I|4 the operating range of the spreaders |08 and |09 may be accurately adjusted to take up for wear and to permit adjustment in assembling the machine. The forward end of each of the spreaders is provided with a wedge-shapedy portion |23 vand |24. As may be observed most clearly in Figure 14, the under surface of each of the spreaders is provided with a cross notch |25. The notch |25 formed inthe spreader |08 latches over the free end 93 ofthe tie wire adjacent to the twister pinion, while the notch |25 formed in the lower surface of the spreader |09 latches over the supply portion 94 of the tie wire vand serves to hold these portions of the tie wire during the forming of the tie, and also to act as a cutter cooperating with the ,adjacent portion of the frame which supports the twister pinion for'severing from the tie vthe portions 93 and 94,

of the tie wire, as illustrated in Figure 17.

In order to provide a hard, sharp cutting surface for the spreaders to cooperate with in serving the portions 93 and 94 from the tie, each side of the frame adjacent the spreaders is provided with especially hardened and appropriately shaped cooperative cutting .edges |26 and |21, as may be observed in Figures 16, 17 and 18.

As previously pointed out, the severing of the surplus wire from the tie, namely, portions 93 and 94, is accomplished by retracting the spreaders |08 and |09 whereby the notch |25 formed in each of these spreaders cooperates with its related cutting edge |28 and |21, hereby shearing these surplus portions of the tie wire very close to each end of the tie, and upon completion of the tying operation the spreaders |08 and |09 are advanced to eject the completed tiefrom the slot 50 of the twister pinion, as illustrated in Figure 18. The intermittent motion given to the spreaders 08 and |09 is obtained by appropriately forming the advancing and retracting cams I0 and in a manner which will be well under-- further illustrated in Figures 14 andv 23. From these illustrations it will be noted that a full quarter segmentof the twister pinion is exposed clear of any bearing surface. Referring particularly to Figures 14 and 23, it will be noted that a wire receiving slot of the twister pinion 5| is directed downwardly and is not crossed by any portion of the twister pinion supporting bearing, thus permitting the tie wire to be readily wrapped into the slot 50 of the twister pinion during the wire placing operation and due to this particular mounting of the twister pinion 5|, it will be noted as, for example, in Figures 18 and 24, that when the slot 50 ofthe pinion is directed horizontally in its discharge position, the slot is likewise free of interfere-nce from its supporting bearing and, therefore, the completed tie may be readily ejected from the twister pinion while the slot 50 is maintained in a horizontal plane and in this way clearing the completed tie from the machine.

In Figure 16 it will be observed that each end of the twister pinion 5| is counterbored 'to receive the segmental bearings |28 and |29. The means for driving the twister pinion are illustrated in Figure 23 and include the driving cam |32, keyed to the main drive shaft 14, and the return cam |33, keyed to the cam shaft 16. Operatively maintained between these two cams is a cam roller |34 carried between one pair of arms |35 forming a portion of the bell crank lever |36. The bellcrank lever |36 is securely keyed' upon the cross shaft |31, and'each of the upper arms of the bell crank lever is provided with a rack segment |38 (Figs. 3 and 23). Each of the rack segments |38 meshes with a pinion |39 keyed to a short cross shaft |40. Positioned between the pinion |39 is a spur gear |42 which may be formed integral with the pinion |39 or keyed directly to shaft |40. An idler gear |43 transmits the motion from the spur gear |42 to the twister pinion 5|. By the twister pinion operating mechanism just described, the twister pinion is turned through a predetermined number of revolutions to form theA tie between the wire portions 9|, 92, 93 and 94, as illustrated in Figure 16, and in the operation of the twister pinion it is actuated to release the twist slightly and then to give the wire an overtwist and finally turn until the slot 50 is directed in a horizontal plane (Figs. 17, 18 and 24), whereupon the spreaders |08 and |09 are actuated to eject or discharge the completed tie from the twister pinion in the mannei. previously described.

As will be remembered from the description of the twister pinion operating mechanism, the cross shaft |31 is keyed to the bell crank lever |36 and is rotated thereby and the operation of the shaft |31 is made use of to provide means for locking the tensioning mechanism from jumping ahead under the influence of its tension spring 88 when the held ends 9| and 94 of the tie wire are severed. This locking means provides a pair of lever arms |44 and I 45, as illustrated in Figures 3, 9, 19, 25, 30 and 31. Each of these levers is journaled upon the opposite ends of shaft |31, which shaft it will be remembered is actuated by the twister pinion driving mechanism. Keyed securely to the shaft, adjacent each of the lever arms |44 and |45, is a collar |46 carrying a dog 41 (Figs. 9 and 25) and each of the lever arms |44 and |45 is provided with an inwardly projecting boss 48 arranged to be held in engagement with its related collar dog |41 by spring means |49 (Figs. 9 and 19). Due to this arrangement, as the shaft |31 rotates in a clockwisedirection, as viewed in Figure 9, which rotation is in a counter-clockwise direction as viewed in Figure 19, or in a direction towa'rd the lower portion of the sheet upon which the Figure 25 appears, the lever arms |44 and |45 will follow. The rotation of levers |44 and |45 will continue until the wedge-shaped portion |50, formed at the upper free end of each of the levers, wedges between the frame and arcuatebearing surface formed upon each of the gripper arms 11 and 18 (Figs. 8 and 9).

If desired, the frame surface |5| (Fig. 8) may be provided with e resilient friction materiel |52 to act as a breaking surface to prevent the lever arms |44 and |45 from being thrust backwardly when the cutting action takes place and the gripper arms 11 and 18 are free to move outwardly under the inuence of the tension spring 88. It will be understood that shortly'after the severing operation has taken place that the tensioning means will be returned to its rest position, whereby the gripper arms 11 and 18 will be returned to their respective positions. as illustratedin Figure 3. It will be understood that as soon as the wedge-shaped portions |50 of each of the lever arms |44 and |45 engage the arcuate surface of their respective gripper levers 11 and 18, that further rotation of the lever arms |44 and |45 will cease and this may take place without interfering with the normal rotation of the shaft |31 during the twisting operation. The additional rotation of shaft |31 will carry the collar dog 41 clear of engagement with the inwardly extending boss |48 carried by each of the levers |44 and |45, and upon return rotation of shaft |31 the dogs |41 will engage the bosses |48 to return the lever arms |44vand |45 to their retracted positions.

Shortly before the completion of the tying operation, mechanically operated means are provided for opening the rst and second grippers. This means includes a cam |55 (Figs. 3, 25, 29, 30 and 31) securely keyed upon cam shaft 16. Cooperating with cam |55 is cam roller |56, carried between a pair of spaced arms. |51, which arms are secured to opposite sides of the crank arm |58 (Fig. 25). The crank arm |58 is securely keyed to the cross shaft |59. A second crank arm |60 is spaced from the rst crank arm |58 and, if .so preferred,it may be formed integral therewith. At any event, the crank arm |60 is similar to the crank arm |58 in that it is also keyed securely to the cross shaft |59. At the upper end of the crank arms |58 and |60 is pivotally mounted the first gripper latch plate |6|. The latch plate |6| is yieldingly urged by spring means |62 to `bring the forward' edge of the latch plate into sliding engagement with the top surface of the gripper lever 11. Figure 8 illustrates the position of the latch plate |6| with relation to the gripper jaw post |63 when the plate has been lifted sufciently to move clear of its engagement with the gripper jaw post, thereby releasingA the gripper jaw 48 for movement under the influence of its spring |64 for y gripping the free end of the wire 9| between the gripping surface of the jaw and the gripper anvil 41.

Figures 28 and 29 illustrate the first gripper directly in back of the gripper post |63. Upon the opening of the first gripper, which closely follows the severing of the wire ends from the tie, the cut end will fall, due to gravity, from its position within the gripper.

The same operating mechanism is made use of for opening the second gripper and for this purpose the cross shaft |59 extends across the machine and upon its opposite end is securely keyed a double crank arm 55. Between the crank arms 55 is journaled the second gripper latch plate 53. Referring to Figures 20 and 22-B, the latch plate 53 is illustrated as it would appear after the second gripper has been released by lifting the for- -ward end of the latch plate to permit the second 

